quote:It’s that much money the Mavericks would have to find another way to free up, probably by dealing away Vince Carter or Shawn Marion for pennies on the dollar.

I hadn't considered Carter, but Marion is a high price for a draft pick and honestly the Pelicans may be the only team with cap space hard up enough for a veteran small forward to even consider Marion. If we could hold out for Carter and use him as an overpriced Roger Mason replacement ($3.1 million) I'd be much more comfortable buying the pick.

Best case scenario for both teams would be to start discussions, Marion gets wind of it, and declines his player option because he doesn't want to play for us that bad. Dallas gets him off the books and we aren't stuck with him. Marion can go play for the Minimum with the Heat or Clippers.

We then trade for 13 + Vince Carter. If Vince plays for us, fine, he only makes 3.1, we can still get someone in FA (although still, not a lot). Or he may retire or consider a buyout for a portion of his salary.

I still think a deal with Dallas is essentially us giving up on FA before it begins, AND handing them Dwight/CP.

I think clearing cap space for Dallas is more likely to make Dwight get traded to the Clippers than CP3 and Dwight going to Dallas. As long as the Lakers believe he'll walk for nothing, trading for Blake Griffin will start looking pretty good.

Meh, I think he's the best offensive center in the NBA. If he had great defense he'd be one of the superstars of the league. AD is supposed to be our rim protector anyway. I think their games complement each other well.

quote:Considering how slow our pace is, I don't think he'll make enough points to outweigh the ones he allows.

Aren't we trying to move to a faster pace now that our team is younger? I thought the emphasis from Monty last year was to get out and run more and pick up the pace. Al Jefferson is more of a half court player anyway. he has great post moves.

quote:We then trade for 13 + Vince Carter. If Vince plays for us, fine, he only makes 3.1, we can still get someone in FA (although still, not a lot). Or he may retire or consider a buyout for a portion of his salary.

Related thought-

We get VC and, if he wants out, we flip him to Chicago for Rip Hamilton and other considerations.

Rip's contract only has $1m guaranteed, which is less than any buyout we'd likely pay on VC's $3m+ deal.

quote:Aren't we trying to move to a faster pace now that our team is younger?

I love how people talk about the team's slow pace as if the game plan is dribble, dribble, dribble and dribble some more. A fast pace starts with defense and rebounding and the pace is sped up more by having offensive players that can put pressure on the defense creating ball movement and open shots. That wasn't a shot at you specifically, but many seem to have this notion that Vasquez holding the ball until the last second is how the plays are drawn up.